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HAVEIL HAVALIMHaveil HavalimBagelBlogger has an archive of the Jewish Carnival Haveil Havalim, which means 'Vanity of Vanities'(or 'Futility of futilities') in Hebrew, check it out, its well worth the journey.

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Saturday, 20 January 2007

Camero, a company out of Israel that has developed a camera that can "see" things through solid walls, has raised $14 million, bringing the total is has raised to $20 million.

The investment comes about four months after it showed off a prototype of the Xaver800 and began to sell systems to customers. Investors include Greylock Partners, Motorola Ventures and Walden.

The Xaver800 doesn't technically capture images directly. Instead, it issues ultrawideband signals and the data harvested is then used to create 3D models of things the signals bounced off of. The trick is that the camera can capture the signals in cluttered environments or through solid objects. Researchers at U.S. universities are working on similar projects.

The camera is only sold to military and police agencies.

Camero's work typifies the state of the growing high tech industry in Israel. While some multinationals have come out of the country, the local industry thrives mostly on scads of start-ups with relatively futuristic technologies, often associated with the military.

As a result, it's one of the places on the globe where the IPO is still a big deal. Last year, 20 Israeli companies held public offerings. More tech IPOs occurred in the U.S. but the U.S. is also bigger. Seventy six local companies got merged or acquired. The total value of mergers came to $10.6 billion, according to the Israel Venture Capital Research Center.

Firebrand Muslim preacher Sheik Feiz Mohammed has referred to Jews as evil in a videotaped lecture still being sold in Sydney despite threats of legal action by the federal and state governments.

He refers to Jews as he makes pig-like snorting noises.

They will be [snort, snort] - all of them. Every single one of them.

In the talk, titled The Gathering, he also referred to Jews as

the leader of pride or arrogance.

They have got the most extreme racial pride in them, he said.

They say that every single non-Jew is a slave created to serve the Jews … Their time will come like every other evil person's time will come."

Sheik Feiz was born in Sydney and now lives in Lebanon.

The 12 lectures, contained in packs of DVDs titled The Death Series, attracted attention following the airing of a British documentary, Undercover Mosque. Its producers bought the series from children selling Islamic materials at a car park outside a mosque in England.

In this video the Australian SheikFeiz Mohammed refers to Jews as Pigs

The lectures, in which Sheik Feiz also refers to Jews as pigs and calls on Muslim parents to offer their children as soldiers to defend Islam, were still on sale in Sydney late yesterday. The Herald found the series in an Islamic bookshop in Lakemba.

The Premier, Morris Iemma, called on the Federal Government to use sedition laws to outlaw the DVDs.

Right: New South Wales Premier Iemma

He has gone way beyond the sort of outrageous and stupid comments made in recent times by the other sheik,"Mr Iemma said, referring to Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly.

This fellow is inciting people to commit acts of terror.

A spokesman for the federal Attorney-General's department questioned yesterday why Mr Iemma had not moved to have the series banned under state laws prohibiting the sale of unclassified DVDs.

The acting Attorney General, Kevin Andrews, said Australian Federal Police were investigating the matter.

Mr Andrews labelled the preachings an "importation of hatred" and said an investigation had begun.

"There is an offence in Australia, in broad terms, for a person to incite violence against another person or group of people based on political opinion or religious grounds or belief," he said.

The Federal Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, said Sheik Feiz was not welcome back in Australia.

These statements are obscene in the extreme.

Sheik Mohammed has made extraordinarily violent statements when it comes to encouraging people to commit acts of jihad, he said.

I would say this to Sheik Mohammed, 'Do not return to Australia, you are not welcome here.' As I see it, Sheik Mohammed's statements add up to incitement to terrorism.

In one of the DVDs Sheik Feiz criticises Muslim parents for being too cautious about letting their children receive jihad teachings.

He also talks of his desire that children be offered "as soldiers defending Islam".

Sheik Feiz makes pig-like snorting noises when he refers to Jews.

"They will be [snort, snort] - all of them. Every single one of them."

The president of the Islamic Friendship Association, Keysar Trad, described some of the comments as ambiguous, but condemned the attacks against Jews. "If he means by standing up and defending faith in a non-violent way - do it using words - then we all do that.

"But if he means taking up arms, that would be something most people would take objection to."

Keysar Trad may be president of the Islamic Friendship Association, (and coincidently also its founder) but as the representative of Sheik Elhilaly, they wheel him out to proffer apoligies and theories of mis translations each time the Sheikh has made more and more outlandish claims and statements.

Above Right: Keysar Trad, Ever ready to be wheeled out to defend the indefensible

Now that Keysar Trad is wheeled out as the defender of Sheik Feiz Mohammed you have to seriously start doubting this mans integrity.

According to Keysar Trad;

Some of the comments are 'ambiguous',

That's funny I got the message pretty clear and I'm not even a Muslim.

Keysad Trad has even began putting pen to paper, which is a nice change from the more orthodox approach to Muslim public affairs, Swords to Necks.

In his self written article published only 4 days ago, Mufti lost in translationin the Daily Telegraph, he claims that Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly is a victim of 'mis translations' and that Arabic orators use an excessive flowery type of description that is exagerrated and can lead to a loss of translation.

He appeals to Australias by using examples of Australia's literary history;

But the use of exotic, colourful or exaggerated generalisations – familiar to readers of Lawson and Patterson – remains a feature of contemporary Arab culture.

He then goes on to explain the custom of using exageration as a literary device;

He claims:

Linguists who teach the Arabic language in Arabic-speaking countries believe that the mark of a good writer is how much he or she can exaggerate in illustrating a point.

Give this gift of exaggeration to a man of the cloth whose domain is fire and brimstone euphemisms and you will get very colourful and exotic analogies. You may have read a few in the past few days.

Arabic writers exaggerate to stretch the reader's imagination and to ensure that they present a story without offending individuals.

The aim with exaggerated story telling is to make it easier for people to draw moral lessons and conclusions.

To me this plethora of exaggeration (or is that insincerity) seems to be at its strongest when Keysad Trad apologises profusely for the mis translations' which seem to plague the Sheik's oratations.

You might be the face of 'so called Moderate Islam' Keysad Trad but your continual and unswerving devotion to Sheik Elhilaly reveals your true orientation. Apologists and admirer in one.

That you would even bother defending Sheik Feiz Mohammed is of serious concern.

The head of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff, said he was concerned some people could be influenced by Sheik Feiz's comments.

"It's of great concern when someone in a position of leadership abuses their authority to incite racial hatred - that is what this man is doing."

It's of a certain irony that almost this time last year, there was a public debate by the Australian Treasurer Peter Costello and others against Fundamentalist Muslims, accepting Australian values and Immigration.

Wednesday, 17 January 2007

UOJI watched as one brave individual, UOJ took on what was seriously wrong with the Orthodox world.

Aspersions were cast upon his motives and character.

Quite virulent threats were made.

I did nothing.____________

Hate not Love

I watched as parts of the Jewish blog world attacked and made outrageous claims about Gays and Lesbians, and their right to having a parade in Jerusalem.

Messages of intolerance and hatred were preached, Groups threatened bombings, murder, rewards for crimes of hate.

I did nothing.____________

Dovbear gets mauled

I watched as a formerly respected blogger called Dovbearwas cast into a fiery pit for not attributing parts of his post to sources, 11 times if I am not mistaken. For a prolific poster like DovBear partly understandable.

Mistakes most of us have in some way have made, sometime when blogging.

'Crimes against humanity were commited',Taken to task by the blogger Dovweasel

Dovweasel who lacks the courage to identify themselve(s) within the Jewish community.

Casting aspersions upon people whilst not revealing that they obviously used plagiarism software to scan his blog. To Claim they managed to find the vast majority of his 'sins' in 2 hours manually is simply a blatant lie.

I did nothing.____________

JBlog Central Departing; all aboard

I watch as Jbloggers seized on another target, the Israel Forum, they criticized, complained, kvetched and screamed boycott.

Even though criticisms had been responded to, and many Improvements were/are being made. Israel Forum's motive is questioned. A seeming lack of advertising becomes a reason for a paranoid conspiracy threat. They must be up to something no good. No one does anything for nothing now a days.

I did nothing.____________

Why, because I didn't want to rock the boat, because I wanted to maintain a chance at winning a blog award.

I've just received the most amazing news. A friendly fellow has just emailed me and assured me that I can do the University degree I've always wanted. To be frank I wish this chap had emailed me earlier, it would have saved me a whole lot of time!

Any way Guaranteed acceptance! I sure do feel lucky. You know with not much work, and a few exchanges of mm fees, I'll have a PhD in no time.

Hey maybe I'll even get to have his job one day, and work on my spelling in my spare time...

Monday, 15 January 2007

Taking the Fifth: Imagine being in a strange place it's now night fall, you know no one, and you're looking at the vacant space where your car was.

Those that know Bagel well will know that my daughter Amber has just recently had some serious Heart Surgery.

Last weekend We had to take a long trip back to Sydney for a post operative 4 week check up.

Imagine parking your car on the Arid Street Parking Level 5 as you go shopping in one of those Super Large Shopping centres.

This shopping centre is so large it drawfs the Town we actually go to do our shopping in, when we're back in the bush [outback].

It's so big that I wonder if there is anyone that has ever seen every shop and level. It looks like some spiffy hotel, there's leather lounges every where, the doormen are in uniforms , they smile at you and open doors, the decor looks like one of Sadam's palaces before some visitors ruined the party.

Well we don't get to shopping centres very often, in fact if you're after more than a Litre of Milk or a bolt for your tractor then the town we normally shop at isn't what you would call the hottest shopping district.

Mum, Dad and the three little angels were of on an adventure of Dorothy proportions. We were on the Yellow brick road of consumer adventure with our pockets stuffed with cash. Now those pockets may have been stuffed with low denomination bills but hey, they were still stuffed.

Our eldest had been carefully squirreling money away for that day when we get to go to the ' big shop'. We hadn't quite realized just how well she had been squirreling money away until she boasted she had $x number of dollars and Dad told her not to tell tattle tales, she said she wasn't and was adamant.

Being only 6 (almost 7 Dad!) she is a very resourceful saver. Admittedly there's not much to buy where we live except tractor bolts but she had raised quite a sum.

Before we had realized the sum she had, Dad had shot of his mouth and told her She was getting a big surprise sum of money because she had such a good school report.

The first shock was that she decided that most of the 'big' money was going to be used to buy her little sister Amber the biggest 'Dumbo' elephant you can get. Jade knows Amber loves Elephants and Jade knew Amber had just had some serious open heart surgery.

I must admit, I am quite hard on Jade, she is very smart and because of that I fear she may try to take advantage of her peers who aren't as gifted, I'm always talking about thinking of 'others', but as a 6 year old she sometimes looks a little glazed over during Dad's talks.

I was taken aback by Jades offer, yet cautiously waited to see if this rather generous offer was followed through.

Back to the Shopping centre, Mum, Dad the three girls, two shopping trolleys and 8 out of 10 hands busy carrying or pushing goodies which we normally go with out.

We went up the escalator to the 3rd level then to the 4th and finally to the 5th level. Mum and Dad struggling with the Days shopping, the trolleys full of exotic fruits, groceries, toys, clothes things you just can't get where we live, Jade struggling with the biggest Dumbo you could lay your eyes on.

We turned the corner on the 5th level and went out through the Automatic carpark door around the corner and there, right there is where our car used to be....

Two adults struggling with their trolleys, the eldest two out of the three girls with their arms full and all we could do was look at the spot where our car used to be.

400km from home, overloaded with now not so important goodies and my heart sunk to the car park floor.

In the darkness of what would have been our car parking spot existed an even darker empty hole, there was no car, no trunk, no welcoming but worn seats, no cd player no ignition,wheels, engine steering wheel nothing; just a horrid empty space.

The only thing that was left was the tell tale patch of transmision fluid from where we had overfilled the power steering pump just before the trip

Life can be cruel, when you least expect it. Our little girl 4 weeks out of heart surgery, we had finally saved money to go on a modest shopping spree and now the cruelest of blows.

My partner looked up at me, and I could see the tears well in her eyes. This was it. Forget the presents, the surprises, they all surmounted to nothing, The cold harsh reality of getting home the next day to our remote country house was now a serious issue?

What to do? We trudged back like defeated footballers, we had been full of hope, dreams and every thing had just been shattered.

We walked back into the shopping centre as the automatic door whirled open the starkness of the bright lights hit us. I looked at the sign hoping it didn't say in dark green lettering

Unfortunately there it was in the same dark green lettering Arid Street Parking Upper Level 5, I glanced to the side of the entrance to see the poultry and small goods provider but it wasn't there...

'There' was the wrong shop.

But if it is the wrong shop couldn't it be we were on the wrong level?

No it was definitely the Arid Street Parking Level 5 ,(front right corner ) we had parked the car. Why the parking spot had that same dirty large grease spot from another car and it even had our leaking power steering fluid there.

It was like being caught in a virtual world, a virtual shopping center that seemed to be made of liquid it ebbed and flowed and things changed at a whim, a terrible cross between de ja vour and a lucid dream.

The same escalator. The same Doorways. The same lights. The same floor. The same dark green sign that said Arid Street Parking Upper Level 5.

Hey I don't remember that Upper part?

Could it be? Or is it a further cruel joke that reality is playing, surely they wouldn't paint two levels exactly the same with dark green color coded poles and walls and barriers, and name those two levels the same in Dark green signwriting with the only difference being the word Upper ?

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About Mr Bagel

mmmm Ok If you're a Jihadist then I live in a dark cave, in remote tribal lands cursing the heat and the flies. If you're one of the rest of US, then I'm just an average guy, doing average things, hoping to make people smile.

Comments Are Welcome

Please feel free to comment.Thanks Bagel
I appreciate peoples interest and will do my best to respect your comments. I am not interested in any rantings or spiteful comments, I believe there are already many venues available for this on the web.